Monday, November 23, 2009

Today, Logan went to Dr. B for his 30 month check. We discussed his sleep/energy issues and his umbilical hernia. I really was hoping for a sleep study now, but he convinced me to wait til 36 months to see if he will continue to grow out of his suspected apnea. He thinks it is getting better not worse and that we may see it continue to get better. But, he said he would go ahead with it at 36 months if I still was concerned. I guess I am ok with that. As far as his hernia, it seems that his intestines are still poking out a bit and he said that he will have a surgeon look at it when Logan is 4 yrs old. He suspects that it may need to be fixed at that point.Here are his stats, I was a little disappointed about his height. He grew less than an inch over the last 6 months and is about to fall off the chart. On one hand, it is so fun that he is such a little guy yet. I can still pick him up and it's like he is taking his time growing up....I don't mind that. But, on the other hand it is sad to see him next to kids his age. He is the size of most 18 month olds.

Logan also showed off a little at his appointment. He showed the doctor how he is trying to jump and he used a couple of words. Of course, his doctor is very proud of him and how much he changes each him he sees him.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Reece's Rainbow is an organization dedicated to promoting the international adoption of children with Down syndrome. By raising money to offer adoption grants on waiting children, they are able to give adoptive families the extra financial help they need to bring a child with Down syndrome home from a miserable existence in overseas orphanages. Their Sponsorship Program provides a unique opportunity for anonymous donors to contribute to the adoption journey of our families. These children are viewed as outcasts with no ability to learn or be functional members of society. They languish in mental institutions, hidden away from the world in shame.

Please watch this video and consider being a waiting child's Christmas sponsor. Reece's Rainbow has a Christmas Angel Tree Project where if you donate $35 dollars or more for a child, you will receive a beautiful porcelain photo ornament of your sponsored child to hang on your tree! This is a very special way to "share Christmas" with an orphaned child, and to make it possible for other families to afford the high cost of rescuing them from orphanages and mental institutions around the world!

If you choose to give, consider choosing Lily. Click HERE and make sure that you specify that you want to support "Zoromski Family - Lilya". Lily needs funds to be able to join her new family here in Wisconsin!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Check out the side bar to the right! Yes, our local group, the Down Syndrome Family Network of the Fox Cities, is proud to announce that our special guest for our 1st Annual Fox Cities Down Syndrome Awareness Walk will be Rachel Coleman!!! Rachel will be performing Signing Time Live at our walk!!!

Rachel Coleman is the co-creator and host of the children's DVD and public television series Signing Time! Rachel’s oldest daughter Leah was born profoundly deaf. After learning American Sign Language (ASL), Rachel wanted to create a way for all children to learn to communicate with her daughter.

Rarely do we see individuals who believe in the power of one to change the world. Idealistic as it may seem, Rachel Coleman is just such a person. Signing Time! was developed based on her personal experiences. Rachel learned from her two daughters the power of ASL. Leah, who is deaf, showed her mother how much easier it was to have a baby that signed and could tell her what she needed. Rachel was especially excited to see how knowing ASL accelerated Leah’s spelling and vocabulary skills as she grew up. Her daughter Lucy, who was born with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, was never expected to communicate in any fashion. But by growing up in a home where ASL was the primary language, she learned to sign, found that ASL was a powerful means of physical therapy and eventually learned to speak the words she’d grown up signing. As a result, Rachel committed to share what her daughters had taught her with the world. This was the motivation behind Signing Time.

Signing Time teaches the basics of ASL to children of ALL abilities a fun and engaging way. Since the release of their first video in 2002, Signing Time has spread to customers in all fifty states and twenty different countries almost entirely by word of mouth. Parents and professionals everywhere praise the Signing Time series for opening up a world of possibilities for their children, whether they are using ASL as a means to communicate with their babies before they develop speech, or learning a second language, or even for children with special needs for whom speech is a challenge.

Signing Time's mission is to create programs and opportunities designed to dissolve the barriers that exist for children (or anyone) with disabilities.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Logan has his 30 month appointment on Monday. I am anxious to see how much he has grown and I also am considering a few other things. I am thinking of asking for a sleep study to try to get to the bottom of Logan's low energy issues and strange sleeping habits. He is a very light sleeper and also has a very hard time waking up. He also sleeps in very crazy positions. Would these be reasons to have the study done? I am also considering asking if we can have Logan's umbilical hernia fixed. Logan was born with a VERY large umbilical hernia, which has for the most part resolved itself, but he has been left with A LOT of extra skin that sticks out quite far. I am torn about whether it would be silly for me to put him through getting it fixed. I have been told he will grow into it, but I am not convinced that he will. I also know there are much worse things that I could be dealing with. I understand if your are thinking "she's crazy" to worry about something like that. I have to ask, but it may end up being something cosmetic, if it has healed completely. I am even embarrassed to ask his doctor, because I don't know how he is going to react. Do you need a picture to know what I mean?

I have given the blog a little makeover and I am hoping that this motivates me to start to blog regularly again! So, if you are reading from facebook, google reader, email, etc...stop on by and check it out and check back often...I promise that you won't be reading the same post for weeks at a time! :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A friend and member of my local DS support group has made the amazing decision to adopt a beautiful little girl who happens to have Down syndrome. Click on the button below to visit Michelle's blog and read about their journey. Please consider helping their family with this very costly process so the Lily can join their family and avoid being institutionalized.